2. Data overview

2.      Data overview

2.1.     River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs)

According to the WFD River Basin Management Plans should since 22.12.2009 be available in all River Basin Districts across the EU. There are however serious delays in some parts of the EU, and in some countries consultations are still on-going.

Ultimo 2011 23 EU Member States have had their RBMPs adopted. Four countries Portugal, Spain, Greece and the Walloon and Brussels part of Belgium had not yet finalised the consultation of the RBMPs and therefore no adopted RBMPs.

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Figure 2.1: Overview of the status of reporting of RBMPs

Source: DG Environment (Status 22/12/2011).

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/participation/map_mc/map.htm

GREEN - River Basin Management Plans adopted.

YELLOW - consultations finalised, but awaiting adoption.

RED - consultation have not started or on-going.

* Norway is implementing the Water Framework Directive as part of the European Economic Area Agreement, with specific timetable agreed.

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2.2.     WISE-WFD data reporting and database

Member States have in addition to the digital version of the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) reported a comprehensive set of data related to the results of the RBMPs such as ecological status for each individual water body or significant pressures affecting a water body. The WFD-CIS Guidance Document No. 21 “Guidance for reporting under the Water Framework Directive” provides the specification of the data that have to be reported by MS in relation RBMPs.

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2.2.1.      Status of WISE-WFD database

Most of the Member States with adopted RBMPs have reported data from the RBMPs to the WISE-WFD database. However, Denmark and Slovenia that have adopted RBMPs have yet not reported data WISE-WFD database. Spain and Greece have reported data from their RBMPs to the WISE-WFD database., but not yet adopted RBMPs All data reported to the WISE-WFD database by primo February have been included into the analysis presented on ecological and chemical status and pressures.

The data reported by Member States have had a first quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) and have then been transferred into WISE-WFD database. EEA has been using the WISE-WFD database version February 2012. This database contained information from 24 Member States and it is covering more than 100 000 surface water bodies and 12 600 groundwater bodies.

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2.2.2.      Reported RBDs

Ultimo 2011 data from 144 river basin districts (RBDs) have been reported by Member States and incorporated into the WFD-WISE database (Table 2.1). There are still missing reporting from some countries and RBDs. The smaller and medium size Member States generally have 1-5 RBDs, while Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland and Portugal have 8 to 15 RBDs.

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Table 2.1 Overview of reported RBDs per Member State and missing Member States

Member States

RBDs

Member States

RBDs

 

Missing countries and RBDs

RBDs

Austria

3

Italy

8

 

Belgium

(Wallonia & Brussels)

 (6)

Belgium Flanders

2

Latvia

4

 

Bulgaria

4

Lithuania

4

 

Denmark

 (4)

Cyprus

 1

Luxembourg

2

 

Portugal

 (8)

Czech Rep.

3

Malta

1

 

Slovenia

(2)

Estonia

3

Netherlands

4

 

Spain – Segura RBD

(1)

Finland

8

Poland

9

 

Norway

(9)

France

13

Romania

1

 

Missing RBDs

30

Germany

10

Slovak Rep.

2

 

 

 

Greece

14

Spain

15

 

 

 

Hungary

1

Sweden

10

 

 

 

Ireland

7

United Kingdom

15

 

 

 

Total reported RBDS

144

 

 

 

Note:  Spain and Greece have reported data but do not yet have provided RBMPs. Denmark and Slovenia have provided RBMPs, but not yet reported data.

Source: Extract from WISE-WFD (version February 2012).

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Size of RBDs

The size of the RBDs varies considerably from very small ones below 1,000 km2 to the largest one, the Danube with over 800 000 km2 (Table 2.2). Obviously, the international RBDs are generally larger. The average size of current reported (national) RBDs is about 30 000 km2. There are 42 and 29 RBDs with an area greater than 15 000 and 50 000 km2, respective. These two size categories cover 25 % and 65 % of the reported area.  More than half of the population are found in the RBDs larger than 50 000 km2.

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Table 2.2 Reported RBD divided by size of the RBD.

Size of RBD

(km2)

Number of RBDs

Sum of area

(1000 km2)

Sum of population

(million)

< 5000

31

56

11,3

5-15000

38

383

36,0

15-50000

42

1043

120,9

> 50000

29

2750

205,1

Total

140

4232

373,3

RBDs that are missing area information on area

4

 

 

 

Source: Extract from WISE-WFD database

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There are 14 international RBDs with an area of the RBDs greater than 40 000 km2 (Table 2.3). The international Danube RBD is by far the largest RBD and consists of eight national RBDs. The Rhine and Elbe internal RBDs consist of six and four national RBDs. Most of the other international RBDs are composed of two national RBDs.

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Table 2.3 International River Basin Districts greater than 40 000 km2

International River Basin District

IRBD

Area

RBDs

Country (Area in km2 of national RBD)

Danube

585675

8

RO (239100); HU (93011);  AT (80565); DE (56295);

BG (47235); SK (47084); CZ (22000);  PL (385)

Elbe

199427

4

DE (148268); CZ (50000); AT (921); PL (238)

Vistula

185126

2

PL (183176); SK (1950)

Rhine

159617

6

DE (102100); NL (28500); FR (23359); LU (2526);

AT (2365); BE (767)

Oder

134615

3

PL (118015); DE (9600); CZ (7000)

Douro

98075

2

ES (78856); PT (19219)

Seine

96607

2

FR (96527); BE (80)

Tajo

81310

2

ES (55645); PT (25665)

Guadiana

67139

2

ES (55528); PT (11611)

Nemunas

50959

2

LT (48444); PL (2515)

East Aegean/Thrace

47040

2

BG (35237); GR (11803)

Torne river

40168

3

SE (25400); FI (14587); NO (181)

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There are 26 national RBDs (plus 18 being part of international RBDs) greater than 40 000 km2, with six of them being larger than 100 000 km2 (Table 2.4). Some of the large districts consist mainly of one large river (e.g. the Loire, Rhône, and Ebro river basin), while other districts are composed of several river system such as the Swedish Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea RBDs or the Scottish RBD.

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Table 2.4 National River Basin Districts greater than 40 000 km2

Country

River Basin District

Area

 

Country

River Basin District

Area

FRG

Loire Bretagne

169204

 

FIVHA4

Oulujoki-Iijoki

68084

SE1

Bothnian Bay

147000

 

NO1105

Finnmark

64382

SE2

Bothnian Sea

140000

 

FIVHA1

Vuoksi

58158

FRD

Rhône Mediterranée

123491

 

ES050

Guadalquivir

57228

FRF

Adour Garonne

118897

 

FIVHA2

Kymijoki-Gulf of Finland

57074

UK01

Scotland

113920

 

FIVHA5

Kemijoki

54850

ES091

Ebro

85570

 

SE4

South Baltic Sea

54000

FRK

Guyane

83846

 

DE4000

Weser

49000

FIVHA3

Kokemäenjoki

83357

 

NO5101

Glomma

47683

ITB

Padan (Po river)

74000

 

NO1102

Troendelag

47229

SE5

Skagerrak and Kattegat

69500

 

EE1

West-Estonian

45375

NO1103

Nordland

68291

 

ES080

Jucar

42851

ITF

South Appennines

68200

 

ITA

Eastern Alps

40851

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2.3.     EEA WISE-SoE data collection

EEA base its water quality data on a representative sub-sample of national monitoring results, which EEA member countries report voluntarily each year to the EEA. EEA has mainly collected annual values (e.g. average, median, minimum and maximum) but in some cases EEA also have collected seasonal (summer and winter) values. In the context of the implementation of the WFD the annual data flow for water quality has been transferred into  the WISE ‘State of the Environment’ (SoE) voluntary data flow (WISE-SoE). With this it remains one of the EIONET Priority Data Flows, but gains full integration into the reporting under WISE and complementarily with data collected under the WFD.

 

Data are transferred on an annual basis from the countries to the EEA and stored in Waterbase.  At the end of 2011, Waterbase contained water quality information on

  • more than 10 000 river stations in 37 countries,
  • more than 3500 lake stations in 35 countries,
  • more than xx coastal stations, and
  • quality data from around 1500 groundwater bodies.

Some of the water quality data are from countries not reporting on the WFD. The different Waterbase are available through the following Website http://www.eea.europa.eu//themes/water/dc.

The data reported in the WISE-WFD and the WISE-SoE databases should make it possible for comparing the water quality data with the data on ecological and chemical status and pressure information for the individual water bodies. The have been several obstacles for making this match between the two database including Member States reporting different water body identifications in the two reporting streams. Selected results on comparing the information in the two databases are presented in the chapter 7. However, these analyses will be further improved and more detailed results will be presented during the spring 2012.

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2.4.     Water bodies

The WFD requires that waters within each river basin district be differentiated into water categories: groundwater, rivers, lakes, transitional waters and coastal waters. These waters are then further sub-divided depending on their type, based on natural factors (such as altitude, longitude, geology and size) that might influence ecological communities. This division forms the basis of water bodies. Water bodies are the basic management units for reporting and assessing compliance with the WFDs environmental objectives.

The EU Member States now has reported 12 600 groundwater bodies and more than 100 000 surface water bodies: 80% of them rivers, 15% lakes and 5% coastal and transitional waters (Table 2.5). All Member States have reported groundwater bodies; 23 Member States, all reporting Member States except Malta have reported river water bodies, 21 Member States have reported lake water bodies, and 15 and 19 Member States have reported transitional and coastal water bodies, respectively.

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Table 2.5: Number of Member States, RBDs, water bodies, and length or area, per water category.

Category

Member

States

RBDs

Number of

water bodies

Length or area

Average length/area

Groundwater

24

133

12635

3500 000 km2

282 km2

Rivers

23

143

85687

1015 000 km

11.8 km

Lakes

21

128

17957

90 800 km2

5.1 km2

Transitional

15

77

953

17 300 km2

18 km2

Coastal waters

19

99

2742

265 000 km2

97 km2

Total

24

144

116650

 

 

Source: Extract from WISE-WFD http://wfd.atkins.dk/report/WFD_aggregation_reports/SWB_RIVER_DENSITY   

Notes: Based on 142 RBDs available in WISE-WFD database (version ultimo August 2011). Wrong river length for Italy, and coastal area for Spain not included in average calculation and sum.

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In total there are reported more than one million kilometres of rivers and more than 90 000 km2 lakes and 290 000 km2 transitional and coastal waters. The total area of reported groundwater bodies is 3.5 million km2. Groundwater bodies have been for different horizon and groundwater bodies may overlay other groundwater bodies.

Table 2.6 lists for the Member States that have reported the number of RBDs, surface water bodies per category; and total and average river lengths and area of lakes, transitional and coastal waters.

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Table 2.6: Number of RBDs, water bodies, and river lengths, area of lakes, transitional and coastal waters per country.

 

Country

 

RBDs

Rivers

Lakes

Transitional

Coastal

Total

Nb

Avg L

L 1000

km

Nb

Avg A

Total A

Nb

Avg A

Total A

Nb

Avg A

TotalA

Nb

Austria

3

7339

5

31392

62

26

934

0

0

7401

Belgium Flanders

 

2

177

15

2472

18

2

40

6

7

42

1

1

1

202

Bulgaria

4

689

43

25568

42

2

73

15

7

109

13

110

1428

759

Cyprus

1

216

15

2579

14

2

22

0

25

35

837

255

Czech Rep.

3

1069

18

18596

71

4

249

0

0

1140

Estonia

3

645

19

12106

89

17

1966

0

16

851

14501

750

Finland

8

1602

18

28875

4261

6

28161

0

215

123

24778

6078

France

13

10824

22

229790

439

13

1964

96

33

2840

164

258

26652

11523

Germany

10

9074

21

126159

712

8

2399

5

179

814

74

357

22843

9865

Greece

14

1033

11

11480

29

24

889

29

33

1129

233

225

38390

1324

Hungary

1

869

19

18802

213

17

1267

0

0

1082

Ireland

7

4566

5

21039

806

3

2628

190

6

1068

111

100

13183

5673

Italy

8

7644

1552

9445045

300

5

2238

181

8

1137

489

59

6609

8614

Latvia

4

205

39

7751

259

4

825

1

5

221

1107

470

Lithuania

4

832

18

14251

344

23

4391

0

0

1176

Luxembourg

2

102

0

0

0

102

Malta

1

0

0

0

9

395

3555

9

Netherlands

4

254

27

4756

450

4

3046

5

154

684

15

611

11889

724

Poland

9

4586

23

111483

1038

2

2293

9

205

1936

10

70

666

5643

Romania

1

3262

26

74473

131

3

993

2

391

781

4

143

572

3399

Slovak Rep.

2

1760

12

18944

0

0

0

1760

Spain

15

4296

19

74808

328

14

5281

201

14

2840

186

4120

1612158

5011

Sweden

10

15563

6

79466

7232

4

29192

21

18

180

602

55

34623

23418

United Kingdom

 

15

9080

12

99749

1119

4

1933

192

25

3716

570

135

63399

10961

EU

 

 

144

85687

12

 

1014539

17957

5,1

90783

953

18

17275

2742

97

265036

107339

Source: Extract from WISE-WFD http://wfd.atkins.dk/report/WFD_aggregation_reports/SWB_RIVER_DENSITY   

Notes: Based on 142 RBDs available in WISE-WFD database (version February 2012). Wrong river length for Italy, and coastal area for Spain not included in average calculation and sum.

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2.4.1.      River water bodies

Category

Member

States

RBDs

Number of

water bodies

Length or area

Average length

Rivers

23

143

85687

1015 000 km

11.8 km

Europe has an extensive network of rivers and streams. In total more than 85 000 river water bodies with a length greater than one million kilometre has been reported by Member States. Four countries, Sweden, France, UK and Germany, reported more than half of the river water bodies, while three countries, France, Germany and the UK accounted for nearly half of the river length (Table 2.6).

The average size of the more than 85 000 reported river water bodies is 11.8 km long. Four Member States had river water bodies more than the double size the EU average and Latvia and Bulgaria had river water bodies longer than 30 km, and The Netherlands and Romania had river water bodies longer than 25 km. Austria, Ireland and Sweden had relative small river water bodies average length less than 5 km and less than half the EU average. If a Member State report relative large river water bodies for example it may have several river water bodies longer than 50 km, it may be difficult to characterize the status (e.g. sections may have different status). 

The same river can contain different water bodies, since the status of the water may change. The diagram below applies to a river with high-quality water at its source, which gradually becomes more polluted downstream.

Member States like Ireland and Austria have a three to four times higher density of river water bodies than the EU average of around 23 river water bodies per 1000 km2 of the Member State territory. Five countries have a relative higher river length (length per 1000 km2) than the EU average. Some countries like Latvia, Finland, The Netherlands, Greece and Spain have a lower density of river water bodies (rWBs per km2) and river length (river length per km2) than the EU average. If a Member State has a low coverage of the rivers in a country, the characterization of status and pressures may not be fully representative for the rivers in the Member State.

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2.4.2.      Lake water bodies

There are more than 500 000 natural lakes larger than 0.01 km2 (1 ha) in Europe (EEA 1995). About 80 % to 90 % of these are small with a surface area of between 0.01 and 0.1 km2, whereas around 16 000 have a surface area exceeding 1 km2. Twenty four European lakes have a surface area larger than 400 km2.

Many natural European lakes appeared 10 000 to 15 000 years ago; when the ice sheet covered all of northern Europe. In central and southern Europe ice sheets only stretched as far as mountain ranges. As a rule, the regions comprising many natural lakes were affected by the Weichsel ice. For example, countries like Norway, Sweden, and Finland have numerous lakes that account for approximately 5% to 10% of their national surface area. In central Europe, most natural lakes lie in mountain regions. Lakes at high altitude are relatively small whereas those in valleys are larger, for example Lac Léman, Bodensee, and Lago Maggiore in the Alps. European countries which were only partially affected by the glaciation period (Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, southern England, central Germany, the Czech Republic, and the Slovak Republic) have few natural lakes. In these areas man-made lakes such as reservoirs and ponds are often more common than natural lakes.

Lakes are often split into two main types (shallow and deep lakes) as they tend to have different sensitivities to pressures such as water pollution. High quality shallow lakes are characterised by healthy submerged plant communities and associated diverse communities of invertebrates, fish and wetland birds. Phytoplankton is also present but typically in low levels. Naturally characterised by clear water, these systems have frequently shifted into turbid, phytoplankton-dominated states lacking macrophytes, primarily caused by nutrient pollution (eutrophication). Deep lakes are mainly found in mountainous regions and under natural conditions they are characterised by very low nutrient loads. Macrophytes are restricted to a narrow belt along the shores and phytoplankton abundance is low. Eutrophication in deep lakes causes enhanced primary production by phytoplankton, in severe cases algal blooms and oxygen depletion (particularly in the deep zones) may affect all processes and species

Twenty-one Member States have reported lakes. In total around 18 000 lake water bodies with an area greater than 90 000 km2 has been reported by Member States. Two countries, Sweden, and Finland, reported more than two thirds of the lake water bodies and lake area.

Category

Member

States

RBDs

Number of

water bodies

Length or area

Average area

Lakes

21

128

17957

90 800 km2

5.1 km2

The average area of the more than 18 000 reported lake water bodies is 5.1 km2 – the average size is markedly influenced by the very large lakes. Seven Member States (Austria, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, and Spain) had average size of lake water bodies greater than 10 km2.

Half of the reported lakes are less than 1 km2 in area and more than 87 % of the reported lake water bodies have an area less than 5 km2 (Table 2.7) Only 78 of the reported lake water bodies have an area greater than 150 km2; Finland and Sweden have reported 28 and 16 lake water bodies greater than 150 km2, and Lithuania and Spain reported 9 and 8 large lake water bodies.

 Table 2.7: Number of lake water bodies according to size of WBs

Area of lakes in km2

<0.5

0.5-1

1-5

5-25

25-150

> 150

Number of lWBs

4249

4300

6693

1745

388

78

Percentage

24 %

25 %

38 %

10 %

2.2%

0.4%

Some Member States (e.g. Sweden and Finland) have divided their large lakes into several water bodies, while other Member States (e.g. Austria) only have one water body for each of their lakes.

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2.4.3.      Transitional water bodies

Transitional waters are those waters between the land and the sea and include fjords, estuaries, lagoons, deltas and rias. They often encompass river mouths and show the transition from freshwater to marine conditions. Depending on the tidal influence from coastal waters, but also on the freshwater influence from upstream, transitional waters are often characterised by frequently changing salinity.

Transitional waters are the sites of major cities and harbours (ports) and these waters historically have been degraded by port activities, by pollution from urban, industrial and agricultural areas, and by land claim for sea defences, building and agriculture.

Fifteen Member States reported from 77 RBDs transitional water bodies. In total 953 transitional water bodies with an area greater than 17 300 km2 has been reported by Member States. Five countries; United Kingdom, Spain, France. Italy and Ireland;  reported more than 90 % of the transitional water bodies and more than 70 % of transitional area.

Category

Member

States

RBDs

Number of

water bodies

Length or area

Average length/area

Transitional

15

77

953

17 300 km2

18 km2

The average size/area of the reported transitional WBs is 18 km2. Five Member States had average size of transitional water bodies greater than 100 km2.

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2.4.4.      Coastal waters

Coastal waters represent the interface between land and ocean, and in the context of the Water Framework Directive coastal waters include water, that has not been designated as transitional water, extending one nautical mile from a baseline defined by the land points where territorial waters are measured.

All European coastal waters have, to a varying degree, been affected by eutrophication and this has led to nuisance and toxic algal blooms, loss of benthic habitats by shading out benthic vegetation and eradication of benthic fauna due to oxygen depletion as well as fish kills.

The EU has a coastline of 68 000 km. When EEA member countries Turkey, Iceland and Norway are also included, the coastline length is 185 000 km (EEA 2010). Almost half of the EU's population lives less than 50 km from the sea, the majority concentrated in urban areas along the coast. In 2001, 70 million people or 14 % of the entire EU population lived within 500 meters of the coast. The sea is Europe's most popular holiday destination: 63 % European holiday makers choose the seaside as their holiday destination.

Eighteen Member States reported more than 2770 coastal water bodies from 97 RBDs. The total area of the reported coastal waters is more than 265 000 km2. The average area of the reported coastalwater bodies is 97 km2 (Table 2.6)Two Member States: Estonia and the Netherlands; had average size of coastal water bodies greater than 700 km2.

Category

Member

States

RBDs

Number of

water bodies

Area

Coastal waters

18

97

2774

267 600 km2

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2.5.     Groundwater bodies

All 24 Member States have reported groundwater bodies. In total 12 600 groundwater bodies from 133 River Basin Districts have been reported. Sweden and Finland reported 3021 and 3804 groundwater bodies and thus accounted for more half of the groundwater bodies. Compared to the other Member States the average size of groundwater bodies Sweden and Finland is 7 km2 while the average size the groundwater bodies for the other Member States is 600 km2.

Category

Member

States

RBDs

Number of

water bodies

Length or area

Average area

Groundwater

24

133

12635

3560 000 km2

282 km2

GWBs Sweden and Finland

2

 

6825

49 742 km2

7 km2

GWBs except SE & FI

22

 

5810

3510 000 km2

604 km2

Source: Extract from WISE-WFD http://wfd.atkins.dk/report/WFD_aggregation_reports/GWB_status   

Notes: .

The total area of reported groundwater bodies is 3.5 million km2. Groundwater bodies have been for different horizon and groundwater bodies may overlay other groundwater bodies.

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2.6.     Heavily modified and artificial water bodies

See draft chapter 2 of draft thematic assessment on hydromorphology < the main results are included below>

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) allows Member States (MS) to designate some of their surface waters as heavily modified water bodies (HMWB) or artificial water bodies (AWB), whereby they will not need to meet the same quality criteria required for other surface waters, which are considered as natural types.  A surface water body is a section of a river, lake, or transitional or coastal water.

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A heavily modified water body refers to a body of surface water that as a result of physical alteration by human activity is substantially changed in character (WFD Article 2 (9)).  A surface water body is considered as artificial when it was created by human activity (WFD Article 2 (8)). There is a wide range of differences in the number of designated surface water bodies among the countries.

Overall, 17.8% of European river water bodies and 16.0% of lake water bodies are designated by the MS as either heavily modified water bodies or artificial water bodies. In the Netherlands majority of the river water bodies are heavily modified while in Sweden almost all river water bodies are in natural condition. The Netherlands, Czech Republic and Belgium, Flanders designated nearly all of their lake water bodies as being either heavily modified or artificial.

A total of 18 EU Member States have on average identified around 6.1 % of their coastal water bodies as heavily modified (6.1 %) and artificial (0.5 %) . The share of transitional water bodies identified as heavily modified and artificial in 15 EU Member States is much larger (25 %), of which 2 % are artificial.

Two sea regions of Europe (Greater North Sea and Black Sea) and six Member States (the UK, Spain, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania and Poland) have more than 10 % of their coastal water bodies identified as heavily modified or artificial.   About 60 % of transitional water bodies are identified as heavily modified or artificial in the Greater North Sea and Black Sea regions. In other sea regions this percentage is 25 % or less. Six Member States (the UK, Bulgaria, Poland, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands) have more than 25 % of their transitional water bodies identified as heavily modified or artificial.

Heavily modified and artificial water bodies are clearly associated with densely populated, urbanised areas with industrial areas and ports as well as low-lying or mountainous regions.

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References

WFD-CIS Guidance Document No. 21 “Guidance for reporting under the Water Framework Directive” http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/env/wfd/library?l=/framework_directive/guidance_documents/guidance_guidance_report/_EN_1.0_&a=d

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